Iznájar brings together residents and researchers at the symposium "Trenzar la Memoria"

The Iznájar Town Council has held the symposium "Trenzar la Memoria", a day of outreach dedicated to three expressions of the municipality's intangible cultural heritage: the Coplas de la Aurora, the Paso Antiguo and the Chacarrá. The meeting brought together specialists, researchers, cultural groups and residents.

The day, presented and hosted by Susana Ramírez, was organised into three blocks that combined documentary screenings, discussion panels and live demonstrations. The sessions were led and moderated by Francisco Jiménez, the ethnologist responsible for the project's heritage research and documentation. The first block addressed the Coplas de la Aurora, with the screening of a documentary and a discussion panel featuring Antonio Bermúdez Cano, a specialist in Andalusian intangible heritage linked to the Cantos de la Aurora of Priego de Córdoba. Its transmission mechanisms and the challenges to its continuity were discussed. The second block focused on the Paso Antiguo, a popular religious theatre linked to the collective memory of Iznájar. After the documentary screening, Rafael Cobo Calmaestra, a specialist in history and communication, spoke and analysed its connections with other expressions in the area, such as the Prendimiento of Priego de Córdoba. The day included a live performance of the scene of Judas's betrayal, a fragment of El Paso antiguo de Iznájar.

The third session was dedicated to the Chacarrá, with a panel featuring José Nieto Serrano, a founding member of the group Andaraje. It closed with a joint performance of the Chacarrá or baile de Palillos by members from Iznájar and from Gaena, a village in the municipality of Cabra. The symposium is part of the project "Trenzar la Memoria: Acciones de salvaguarda participativa del patrimonio cultural inmaterial de Iznájar", promoted by the Town Council and funded by the Ministry of Culture. The mayor, Lope Ruiz López, closed the meeting and stated that "betting on local culture, on our traditions and on the groups of Iznájar is betting on social cohesion, on the dignity of our older people and on a model of a town that does not renounce its identity in order to look to the future". Francisco Jiménez stated at the closing that "knowing heritage requires listening; documenting it requires responsibility; and safeguarding it requires counting on the people who make it possible". The day ended with a public recognition of the groups and people participating in the project.